Phulbari town was freed on this day in '71
On this day in 1971, the valiant freedom fighters freed Phulbari upazila town by defeating the occupation forces of Pakistan.
The commander of freedom fighters, Monsur Ali Sarker, hoisted the flag of independent Bangladeshat at the C&B Bungalow here on the very same day.
Various programmes have been chalked out to mark the occasion.
At the fag end of the liberation war, the freedom fighters conducted several successful raids on the camps of Pakistani occupation forces. Later, they intensified their attack forcing the occupation Pakistan forces to retreat giving way to entry of the freedom fighters.
As the news spread, people from the adjacent villages came to the upazila town and rejoiced liberation of their motherland by chanting slogans 'Joy Bangla' with the freedom fighters.
Just after the declaration of independence by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 7, the freedom-loving people of Phulbari formed a resistance committee.
Later, after the crackdown of Pakistani forces in Dhaka on the black night of March 25 in 1971, the people of the upazila town observed different programmes which moved forward the struggle for independence.
But on April 2 morning, the occupation forces heavily shelled Phulbari from different points and entered the upazila town. Pakistani troops of Battalion-3 set up their headquarters here to cover five upazilas of Dinajpur district including Phulbari, Birampur, Nawabganj, Hakimpur and Ghoraghat.
The occupation forces, with the help of their collaborators, conducted house-to-house raids and indiscriminately killed lots of people, raped scores of women and young girls and looted valuables.
Many innocent people fled to India leaving behind everything in Bangladesh and took shelter in refugee camps there.
Meanwhile, Thakurgaon Free Day was observed in the district town yesterday amidst due festivity and enthusiasm, reports our correspondent.
Different socio-political and cultural organisations organised different programmes to mark the day.
The organisers urged the government to expedite the trial of the war criminals for doing heinous crimes against humanity during the liberation war of Bangladesh.
Earlier, former lawmaker and organiser of the liberation war Fazlul Karim inaugurated the progrmme by hoisting national flag at the Martyrs' Memorial in the town.
A colourful procession was brought out from here that paraded the streets of the town and ended at Thakurgaon Bara Maath.
This was followed by a discussion in the afternoon. Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen was present as chief guest.
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